


A Silent Confession

by miraculousmarie



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste Needs Help, Adrien Agreste Needs a Hug, Adult Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Adult Content, Adult Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Adulthood, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Miraculous, Angst, Birthdays, Cancer, College, Dead Gabriel, Depressed Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Depression, Drinking, Drinking Games, F/M, Fluff, Heavy Angst Beware, Hot Mess Adrien Agreste, Hot Mess Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Hurt Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Jealous Adrien Agreste, Love, Lung Cancer, Marinette needs Love, Party, Partying, Regrets of Adrien, Sad Adrien Agreste, Self-Hatred, Sex, Smoking, Smut, University
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-12-18 02:56:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18240980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miraculousmarie/pseuds/miraculousmarie
Summary: It's been four years since the sun in her life died out.It's been four years since he broke her heart, mended it, and then broke it once more.Now four years after this incident he's back, trying to mingle into her life once again.The question is, how will she react?





	1. Prologue

The breath of the young woman wandered throughout the air, curiously lingering around her. Her midnight locks drifted in the light winds, bouts of air meticulously waving and intertwining around every strand. As the light wind whipped through, the pockets of air in between her medium-length tresses let out little whispers.

“Marinette!” The voice of a young woman called out to her, echoing through the moist air of the overcast day.

The woman, Marinette, diverted her attention towards the direction of the voice, “oh, it’s you Alya!” Her voice radiated with enthusiasm and glowed with joy, “how are you?”

“I’m fine, girl,” Alya beamed at Marinette, “I want to know about you though, it’s such a terrible day today, and you look out of it.”

Marinette frowned, “no, no! I’m completely ok Alya, it’s just I’m a bit tired from designing, you know the usual? I still need to work on my portfolio for the first few weeks of ESMOD, I’m preparing it right now so I can rest easy at the start of classes.” She replaced her concerned frown with a faux smile, which was carried out flawlessly.

She learned this a long time ago from a boy who escaped from her reach, gone from her world.

Alya, who was known to be one of Marinette’s closest friends could not pick up the hint of uneasiness in the lies that Marinette calmly said, instead opting to smile back at her, “that’s great Marinette, but I hope you’re not as clumsy with your classes as you were in our teenage years.”

A great smile was plastered on her porcelain face, meanwhile on the inside she was screaming in agony whilst being reminded of the blissful past. A thing she wanted to shove into the back of her mind or possibly even out of it for years. She wanted to be rough with it, but there was something in Marinette that wanted to caress it, keep it safe from harm. Her fragile memories were something she wanted to keep intact.

The incident left her bipolar over these memories. What happened long ago did not cease to haunt her. It spread throughout her like the plague, consuming her every being.

She was upset on the inside; she was content on the outside.

Thunder billowed overhead, and the white, overcast sky grew dark in sadness and anger. The way it looked as if it would burst into tears was an accurate representation of the way Marinette was feeling. Hopeless, worthless, and upset.

She couldn’t tell what started falling first, her tears or the rain, because Alya seemed to not notice. The journalist took her reside in the clouds, and when it began to rain it was too late for the auburn haired girl to notice the sadness on Marinette’s face.

“I knew it was a terrible day to come out…” Alya cursed under her breath before looking over at Marinette, “but I was looking for you, your parents told me you were out walking. So this is your fault girl!”

Marinette smiled, although she was truly dead inside. She was reminded of the faithful day they officially met, when she fell in love.

That love was dead.

Her mind rumbled and rambled on and on with all the thoughts and regrets she had. Alya did nothing to soothe her inner pain or dry off the eternal tears that were splattered and stained her cheeks. It wasn’t like she could do anything anyway, she didn’t know, no one knew. There was only slight comfort while Alya escorted her home.

“I hope you don’t come down with a cold.” Alya noticed her reddened eyes, and began to worry, “you don’t look very good, are you cold?”

“No, I’m perfectly fine!” She plastered on her smile that had been a regular for four years. Marinette was cold. Eternally cold.

“Looks like we’re here!” Alya cheered, not caring that she was completely drenched in water, “I’ll be off, don’t worry about me, I’ll get home soon. What you really need to do is get home and take a shower.”

“If I can’t worry about you, worry about yourself Alya.” Marinette playfully rolled her eyes at her best friend, “now get home!”

“Alright, alright!” Alya giggled at her friend, “Now you go inside!”

Marinette followed suit, “bye Al.”

“Bye girl.”

The door shut.

She was lucky that her parents were in the bakery and not near the apartment door, for she broke down in tears. “Why did you have to leave me?” She whispered in agony, “why did you have to go? You could have told me…”

Her tears fell on the hardwood of the outside of the family apartment, “you really wanted to keep it a secret, huh?” Her hands shook as she reached inside her coat pocket to find a tattered photo of a blond teenager.

She quivered as she slowly brought it close enough to see the boy clearly.

“It’s been exactly four years.”

“ _Where are you Adrien Agreste?_ ”


	2. Mangled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The First official chapter of the story!
> 
> Go follow me on both my Instagrams: mariemkrtchian and marie.m.art
> 
> Enjoy!

 

It was a hot and humid August day in Paris, France, and it was a difficult one especially if _someone_ was stuck in an airport seeing most of her friends off to schools abroad.  
  
This was the exact situation that Marinette was in, the bare skin of her legs that was exposed by her shorts stuck together, and ultimately made her feel gross, “Alya, how much longer will this flight take to come? I’m already feeling faint.” Marinette started waving her hand near her face, putting some emphasis on how gross and hot she felt.  
  
“What are you, seven?” Alya giggled at her friend’s antics, while still clicking away at her phone, “Nino’s going to be here soon, he’s on his way right now!”  
  
“At least he’s smart enough to wait a bit at home _before_ coming to this damned airport,” Marinette groaned once again before slumping into her seat, hugging her backpack close to her heart. “He has some common sense, unlike you Alya, who came _five_ hours early and dragged me along with you!”

  
“My god Marinette! We had to come five hours early so we could see everyone off! Nino and I are the last flight anyways.” She quickly interjected, “besides, I know you can wait half an hour.”

“Alright, fine.” She rolled her eyes again, “but I’m going to miss you, four years sounds like a long time.”  
  
“I wish you were leaving Paris like all the rest of us, there are so many other places you could go, why stay here?”  
  
“I’m not one to travel far from my home.” Marinette said, showing a little smile, “besides, Paris is basically a fashion mogul’s paradise, there will be so many jobs for me once I’m out of college, and ESMOD is a great school for me to learn.”  
  
“Alright girl, I agree with you, I wish you good luck.” Alya looked up from her phone to look Marinette dead in the eye, “if you forget to facetime me one night, so be it I will-”  
  
“I’ll make sure to remember Al!” Marinette giggled, this time putting the back of her hand over her mouth, “but the real troubles are visits.”  
  
“I’d love to spend time in Britain outside of my classes, but duty calls, woe is me! I must visit my best friend!” Alya dramatically put her hand near her forehead, “I’ll make sure to visit-”  
  
“Babe!”  
  
“Huh?”  
  
Nino waved from the crowds, “get over here Alya! The flight came early and they’re starting to board!”  
  
“Alright!” Alya called out to him before looking over to Marinette, “I’ll miss you girl.”  
  
“Me too.”

  
And they hugged goodbye one last time.  
  
Alya blew a goodbye kiss to Marinette before quickly running towards Nino, suitcase in hand, while her short auburn hair bounced up and down near her shoulders.  
  
Once Alya was full out of view, Marinette’s cheery smile melted into a frown. She slumped into  her seat and looked down: she was truly alone. The crowds of people all around made her dig her hole of solitude deeper and deeper into the Earth.

She sighed before grabbing her backpack and walking past a few terminals. It wasn’t until she reached Terminal 14 when there was a slight commotion.

  
“Monsieur Agreste! Monsieur Agreste! Where have you been all these years?”

  
_Agreste._ A name she hadn’t thought of or heard of for years.  
  
“Monsieur Agreste, how is your father doing?”  
  
“What are you doing back in Paris, Monsieur Agreste?”

 A tall blond man was dodging the questions of paparazzi, almost literally as well.  
  
“Is it true your father has retired?”  
  
The blond man took to a halt, lifting his cap up to reveal glistening emerald eyes, “if I told you, will you leave me alone?”  
  
Marinette could sense the sadness in her eyes, though she knew this was just another dream. That she would wake up and forget all about this nightmare. She would have more time with her friends, she’d be happy.  
  
Right?  
  
Now she was here and felt the worst sense of déjà vu, being at the _Charles de Gaulle_ Airport once again and watching Adrien Agreste on the verge of tears, “my father is dead. I will be taking over the business. I will be attending ESMOD in order to be able to inherit my father’s business. Now _please_ leave me alone.” He spun on his heel and looked straight in her direction.  
  
She could sense the desperate tone in his voice, almost like how it was when they were both only 14 and he was about to be dragged to Britain by his father. The memories of that day made her shudder, the way he looked at her when she was the only one left at the airport to say goodbye. The way he ran to her and hugged her tight, the way it felt when her heart fluttered as he pulled back but leaned in once again. The rippling and vivid memory of his lips on hers. And they way he said “I love you” for the first time and promised to come back.  
  
But her? She could not reciprocate this. Her silent confession was enough for him as he slowly strode towards the entrance of the jet.  
  
He looked back at her, gave her the look with his emerald green eyes and left.

  
As that jet flew farther and farther, the sun that lit up her life slowly died out.  
  
And the painful memory of a boy with golden hair and vivid green eyes would haunt her, and the emptiness in her heart would linger on and on.  
  
He did not contact her, why?  
  
He didn’t bother with her, why?  
  
She was all alone and began to think that her love was in vain, and that she was forever destined to be in solitude and sadness.  
  
Now he was here once again, staring straight at her with those eyes that always lingering and wandered in her mind. Her mouth was dry, like that day, and was immediately reminded of two weeks ago when Alya found her wandering, and how she cried in the rain and no one knew, and all the pain that was bottle deep inside her it was so-

  
“Marinette.”  
  
“A-Adrien?”  
  
“ _My Marinette._ ”


	3. Secluded in My Mind

A pair of easy green eyes stared back at her, as her bluebell irises burnt holes into him. Her lips drew into a thin frown, “what do you want from me Adrien?”   
  
It seemed like he didn’t notice the thick anger laced in between the heavy words that spat out her mouth. He grinned a little and said, “your love,  _ ma princesse _ .” The sadness in his eyes had still not faded away, and his light stubble dotted across his face made his red eyes stand out, making it prevalent that he endured many sleepless nights.   
  
She almost felt bad for him.   
  
“It has been four years _ Agreste _ .” Marinette took to using his last name to intimidate him, narrowing her eyes to resemble tight slits. Her dark brows were furrowed as she clutched her handbag in hopes it would reassure or calm her.

 

It did not.

 

Adrien’s own chestnut eyebrows softened in regret, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t want this to happen, I-I really didn’t I promise!”

 

His stutters and apologies did nothing to soften the hard gaze that was settled on Marinette’s face. She growled, “save it for later  _ Agreste. _ ” She spat this out in absolute disgust, “although there will be no later, I’m leaving.”

 

The quick confrontation did not go unnoticed by the ever-present paparazzi. In a person’s hearing range you would be deafened by the recurring clicks and snaps of the paparazzi cameras. Adrien’s mouth was agape as he stared at her walking away from him. It was no surprise, she was just returning the favor. The regret that remained rooted into his mind still stayed, and he was reminded about how he felt the day he walked away from  _ her _ , the girl that never ceased to amaze him.

 

Even now he was shocked by her strength and the way she rejected his light advances. She wasn’t far from him, and it seemed like something was poking out of her pocket that didn’t seem to be there before. He took quick strides to be just behind her, but she didn’t notice. On closer inspection he saw that it was a photo of the two of them, or at least what it used to be. Her face was covered with a small piece of paper and what was left was his smiling teenage face, and a captioned heart. 

 

The photo was a Polaroid they took, irreplaceable and precious. This was a few weeks before he left for Britain. 

 

The Polaroid fell out of her jean shorts, and quickly fluttered to the ground. In instinct he rushed to pick it up and cradled it in his arms as if it was a small child. Much to his surprise, the photo was still in good shape. The heart that was written in sharpie was a little bit smudged and the corner was crinkled, but the photo still remained in outstanding condition. He decided not to confront her again to hand the photo back. He was flooded with the fresh memories of her normally sparkling and loving eyes replaced with eyes that were completely wiped of their positive emotions.

 

They were lifeless, although seemingly filled with anger.

 

As he tucked the Polaroid away in his messenger bag he understood how much he hurt her that day. He knew he was obliged to apologize and take the blame. It was an  _ obligation  _ to, but he couldn’t bring himself to do this.

 

The only thing he could even muster up was to drive himself to his old house in shame.

 

━━━━━━━━

 

The titles of the various articles of the incident haunted him even in his own “home.” He was seated in his old  _ house. _

 

_ “Adrien Agreste left shell shocked in the Charles de Gaulle Airport!” _

 

_ “Mystery Woman and Adrien Agreste confrontation!” _

 

_ “Former Lover and Adrien Agreste feud!” _

 

He read the titles out loud and slumped onto the sofa near the fireplace. There were so many photos of him and Marinette as she completely bewildered him. The titles were right, he  _ was  _ shell shocked. 

 

Now with his shaking hands all he could do was take out the photo that Marinette carried with her. 

 

Slowly yet surely, trying to not damage the near pristine quality of the photo, he peeled off the paper slip that covered Marinette’s face up. 

 

The girl before him was so familiar yet so far away. It was a grinning fourteen-year-old Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Her in all her glory. 

 

Her short midnight colored hair was tied back into two pigtails, something he noticed that wasn’t a trend with Marinette’s medium tresses now. Her bluebell eyes were glimmering with so much hope and happiness that it felt so real to him. Her porcelain colored skin was filled with so much life that there was a rosy pink tint that covered the tips of her cheeks. It complemented the naturally rose colored lips that Marinette had. 

 

It was impossible to draw his eyes away from her.

 

Marinette looked the same, she hadn’t really changed her appearance since he left her that day, despite the alterations of clothing style and the way she did her hair.

 

But there was something about her that felt so  _ different. _

 

It wasn’t just the way she was acting, so hurt and vulnerable yet unleashing her bravado to portray herself as “tough.”

 

Marinette was a very pretty girl in their early teens. Many of the boys in her classes had feelings for her at one point in time. She was beautiful, smart, kind, and everything that resembled a dream girl in every teenage boy’s eyes. 

 

But now, it was a different story. She was so  _ mature  _ now that it almost frightened him. It was true, she was only eighteen yet she changed so much. For starters she had grown to be tall. She didn’t quite take after her petite mother but had grown tall like her father’s side of the family. She was still short compared to him, but she was still 5’8 and rivaled many of the models he had ever seen.

 

Her face had grown slimmer and more older, losing some of the childish roundness it had to it. She still kept the fullness to her lips and her eyes were still as blue as ever.

 

Her hips had also grown too, giving some definition to her long and toned legs. 

 

Her breasts still remained at the smaller side, but they had grown as well.

 

The way her medium length locks grew wavy just as they reached the ends allured him. 

 

And he hated to admit at this point in time, especially in the state of their relationship, but she was downright  _ sexy. _

 

Damn the hormones.

 

He chuckled in defeat and began to grab his face and his hair in anger, and commenced trying to remember what  _ really  _ happened the day he left her and how he felt afterwards. 

  
  



	4. Dreams and Tales of Young Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was a bit sad to write, especially the beginning, but this isn’t the most angst I could do!

“Adrien.” A sweet voice called out to him. One that always inhabited his most saccharine dreams. The voice called out to him once again, “Adrien, I love you.” 

He couldn’t wrap his finger around it. It was too familiar yet so unfamiliar. 

Until he was reminded of a name that drifted in the endless sea of his being: Marinette.

In the darkness of his mind it appeared before him. A young woman with dark midnight hair and eyes bluer than the sky, “don’t tell me you've forgotten me?” She stood in the sea in a pale blue dress that matched her bluebell irises. Marinette stood in the calm waters of his dream. 

“No I didn’t!” Adrien cried out to the beautiful woman, who to him was like a nymph, so delicate but cunning deep inside of her, “I’d never forget you, not you, never.”

Her dainty arms crossed over each other and went just under her bosom, “is that true? That you didn’t just forget what my voice sounded like?” Her fingers delicately crawled over to the pale skin of her shoulders, rubbing up and down, “that you did not forget what I felt like when you held me close to you and how my lips would feel on yours?” She ran her fingers through her loose hair, “or perhaps the way my hair felt as you tied it for me when I had difficulty?”

“Or did you truly forget, my love? I live on in your mind with no end.” Her pale blue dress grew a bit darker in color as the tranquil waters surrounding them began to ripple and grow restless, “it is young love that will always live on, and my being will grow old with you, but will not die with you.” 

“I did not forget, I promise you.” He whispered in his weak state, “I would never abandon you.”

“Liar.” The anger in her eyes spread throughout her body as she shivered, “you abandoned me that day and never came back!” She screamed this is agony and so much neediness that the seas and the sky grew dark along with her dress, that now resembled her hair more than it did her eyes. 

“I promise I would never, you don’t even know what happened…”

The thunderclouds grew and became an abundance as the seas turned into violent and became a storm of fury and anger, “why didn’t you come back for me like your promised?” Her tears fell stronger than the rain fell and held more emotion than he had ever witnessed with anyone, “why did you leave me like that to doubt myself and never love again?”

Before he could answer these desperate questions she yelled out his name one more time, “I hate you Adrien!” As lightning struck his heart.

And then he woke up.

He was greeted by his own reflection displayed on the dresser mirror, a demonic sight. His eyes were red and puffy as tears streamed down his cheeks. He hadn’t shaved in a week or so and was already experiencing the consequences of it. He looked pale and sickly: an emotional wreck.

Anything but model material.

He sighed, if his Father were still alive he’d have a double scolding. One would be for the press buzzing about his confrontation with Marinette and another about his appearance.

But sadly his Father was deceased and as strange as it might sound Adrien missed his Father’s constant nagging. Gabriel was a man that held back many emotions and was cold. Now, he could be happy once again in the afterworld with his late wife Emile.

Where did Adrien stand in all of this?

Newly orphaned yet legally old enough to care for himself. He inherited a fortune from his Father. Why was he so upset? He knew this would be happening for a while? 

Since he was only fourteen.

He regretted being an secretive about it and leaving Marinette the way he did. He believed that after his Father’s death he would be able to return to Paris and rekindle at least something with the blue eyed girl but all hope was lost.

Almost exactly four years ago Adrien Agreste was informed by Gabriel Agreste’s personal assistant, Nathalie, that his father had been diagnosed with lung cancer because of his smoking habits.

Nobody expected Gabriel to make a full recovery. No one knew why he even started smoking in the first place. Nobody even knew if he would even survive this lethal battle with cancer. Did he start smoking non-stop due to the stresses of his work? Or was it because of the sadness and depression left by the loss of his wife. The answer was unknown, and all they could do was hope Gabriel would live just a bit longer every single day.

It was one day when they were called to the Doctor’s Office that would change the way Adrien lived his life for the next four years.

He could clearly remember the way the doctor looked at them and how he would adjust his glasses every few seconds and sigh. Adrien could recall these exact words, “in order for your Father to live longer you must move to the British countryside.”

Adrien lost it at that very moment. He would have to abandon his school, his friends, and most importantly: Marinette.

His life and only turned for the better just about a year ago and now it was plummeting back to where it was before, except it’s even worse this time.

Time ticked quickly as he tried spending more and more time with the girl he had feelings for. He tried to memorize her entire being just before he had to leave her. He tried to etch it into his mind and keep it there for as long as he had to before he could see her again. 

It was barely working.

He announced it two days before his departure, that he would be suddenly moving away for business reasons. Adrien told all of his classmates and friends, and every single one of them promised to meet him at the Charles de Gaulle Airport to bid him farewell. 

Chloe tried to kiss him, but luckily he could evade this with no trouble. His other classmates who weren’t as close to him as Nino, Marinette, or Alya were to him, brought him small gifts such as flowers and said their goodbyes. Nino fist-bumped Adrien one last time and hugged him before leaving to go home once again. Kagami was there as well, and gave him a quick bow before she too had to leave. All the while Marinette stayed in the corner of the room with so much sadness filling her eyes as Alya tried to comfort her. There were unspilled tears filling them, ready to fall at any moment. Soon enough Alya had to leave as well, leaving Marinette alone in the airport. She had still not said goodbye.

The honest to god truth, he was disappointed. He thought that maybe she hated him, or they weren’t close enough.

That was until he was walking to the jet when he heard a strangled cry, “Adrien!”

He turned around to see Marinette Dupain-Cheng staring up at him with shimmering eyes. Her hands were on her heaving chest, obvious she had run to him. Her eyes were filled with so much hope and determination that it was impossible to draw his own eyes away from hers. 

“I just want to-“ 

He hushed her by placing his finger on her lips before saying with such sincerity that it was almost unbearable, but he said it, believing he wouldn’t see her again for a long time, “I love you.”

He leaned in and placed his lips on her rosy pink ones and after he was satisfied he pulled back and smiled at her, “I’ll come back for you, I promise.” 

She was silent, mouth agape and surprised, eyes filled with so much love. He was happy, her silent confession was enough, and he drew away from her and slowly walked to his demise: the jet to Britain.

As the jet took off he couldn’t help but notice Marinette was still frozen in her spot, but waving to him with so much hope that he regretted not telling her everything.

And he knew her heart would be broken after she would find out he wouldn’t be coming back for her after all, or maybe not for a while.

And at that moment he cursed his secretive nature, and he cursed his existence.

  
  
  
  
  



End file.
